When I read, I always have a pencil shoved into my book. For some reason, I can’t help but underline sentences and passages that speak to me. Sometimes I just like the way an author puts words together. Sometimes the truth contained is pivotal and new.

So I thought it would be fun to share some of these tidbits periodically. Enjoy!

“Rae was Rosie’s authority on all things spiritual, because her beliefs were so simple and kind. You were loved because God loves, period. God loved you, and everyone, not because you believed certain things, but because you were a mess, and lonely, and His or Her child. God loved you no matter how crazy you felt on the inside, no matter what a fake you were; always, even in your current condition, even before coffee. God loves you crazily, like I love you, Rae said, like a slightly overweight auntie, who sees only your marvelousness and need.” –Anne Lamott, Imperfect Birds

“Where you are is who you are. The further inside you the place moves, the more your identity is intertwined with is. Never casual, the choice of place is the choice of something you crave.” –Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” –Maya Angelou

“It was when I was happiest that I longed most. The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing, to find the place where all the beauty came from.” –C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces

“I hope I’m wrong, but I imagine that about 90 percent of the human race is snoozing along, just going through the motions. And 100 percent of us dull out some of the time. It takes miracles, white magic, wonders, to jog us from our slumber. What if we really were masters of our mind and life? What if we were God-in-action? What would we do then?”  –Carolyn See, Making a Literary Life